Agritech Startup Aqgromalin Secures Seed Funding Led By Zephyr Peacock The company plans to use the funds raised for team expansion, technology development, category addition, and geographical expansion
By Prabhjeet Bhatla •
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Aqgromalin, a tech-driven farm diversification platform enabling farmers to diversify into animal husbandry and aquaculture, has informed on Thursday to have raised INR 5.5 crore in seed funding led by Zephyr Peacock India Growth fund, a provider of growth capital to startups in India. The round also includes participation from IndigramLabs Foundation and other noted angels from the agri startup ecosystem.
The value chain for livestock farming activities in India is fragmented and lacks transparency. The activities include poultry farming, cattle farming, aquaculture, insect farming, etc. Indian livestock farmers face challenges in procurement of inputs and sale of output produce, resulting in unpredictable incomes. Aqgromalin is pioneering the delivery of tech-enabled services to this sector. The company provides tech-driven solutions to farmers to help augment their farm income by organizing the supply of input and marketing output.
"Animal husbandry and aquaculture sector in India is underserved and highly fragmented. Livestock farmers face various issues including limited availability of quality inputs, lack of quality feed, and lack of access to markets at Aqgromalin, we are building a one-stop end-to-end solutions platform to help farmers overcome these issues," shared Prasanna Manogaran, co-founder and chief executive officer, Aqgromalin.
Aqgromalin plans to use the funds raised from Zephyr Peacock for team expansion, technology development, category addition and geographical expansion.
"The livestock industry plays a critical role in the Indian economy. It contributes over 4 per cent of the GDP and provides employment to millions of Indians. However, the industry is highly unorganized and farmer income is low. Aqgromalin is deploying technology that would help address the pain points across the livestock value chain and improve access of inputs and markets for the ecosystem. We are excited to partner with the founders and the management to bring about a tech revolution in the livestock industry," said Pankaj Raina, managing director, Zephyr Peacock.
"Our mission is to democratize access of live inputs to our farmers especially small landholders, thereby enabling them to diversify into animal husbandry and aquaculture at ease. In the next few years, we plan to build the sourcing and supply infrastructure to deliver a wide variety of live inputs at the farm gate. We are glad to have Zephyr Peacock as a partner on this journey," added Bharani C.L., co-founder and chief operating officer, Aqgromalin.
Aqgromalin deploys technology to enhance reach and engagement through its mobile and web platforms for customers and working on IoT monitoring solutions for animal husbandry and aquaculture with AI deep learning inference. It is also building a blockchain-based traceability platform for animal husbandry and aquaculture produce. Headquartered in Chennai, the company has currently reached over 40,000 livestock farmers across Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Assam, West Bengal, Orissa, and Kerala. The company plans to reach over 1,00,000 farmers by the end of 2021.
